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Weekly wrap: Report questions states' use of stimulus road funds

By John Gramlich, Stateline.org Staff Writer

States are spending too much stimulus money on new road construction and not enough on public transit projects, a national advocacy group claims in a report issued Monday (June 29). Meanwhile, Michigan and California consider teaming up to solve their prison problems and North Carolina and Rhode Island face off with Amazon.com over taxes. Read More

Financial crisis torments states

By Stephen C. Fehr, Stateline.org Staff Writer

(Updated 5:25 p.m. EDT, July 1, 2009)

California may begin issuing IOUs this week because of the state’s unresolved budget crisis. But government disruptions were averted at least temporarily in five other states that missed a July 1 deadline for closing billion-dollar budget gaps. Read More

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RECENT STATELINE.ORG STORIES


	US: Facing deficits, some states cut summer school COCOA, Fla. — Nearly every school system in Florida has eviscerated or eliminated summer school this year, and officials are reporting sweeping cuts in states from North Carolina and Delaware to California and Washington.
	US: States, districts in delicate dance on stimulus The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is clear: States are on the hook for advancing education improvement goals spelled out in the law as a condition for receiving up to $100 million in economic-stimulus aid to education.
	US: Coming to 25 states -- higher taxes More than half of US states are responding to budget challenges with an answer thats often unpopular with their residents: tax hikes.
	US: Mississippi tops obesity rankings; Colorado is leanest state WASHINGTON -- Mississippi remains at the top of the list in this years national annual obesity rankings, with Alabama coming in second. Outside of fairly lean Colorado, theres little good news.
	WI: Wisconsin to recognize domestic partnerships With the budget signed Monday by Gov. Jim Doyle, Wisconsin has become the first state with a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and civil unions to put in place domestic partnerships for same-sex couples.
	AZ: Stakes will be high at Monday's special state budget session Hours after lawmakers adjourned their 171-day regular session, Gov. Jan Brewer called them back to work on the 2010 budget, as well as on a temporary tax increase that would pay for K-12 schools, social services and public safety.
	WV: W.Va. Turnpike board OKs toll increase Drivers will start paying higher tolls on the West Virginia Turnpike next month of $2 for passenger vehicles and $6.75 for five-axle commercial trucks under a motion approved Wednesday by state turnpike officials.
	TX: Texas applies for stimulus funds with minutes to spare There are deadlines for submitting job applications. Deadlines for filing reports. And then there are deadlines for applying for $3.97 billion. The state of Texas cut that last deadline really close.
	NY: Senate deadlock hits New York schools New York City officials scrambled Wednesday to re-create a system of school governance that hasnt existed in seven years after a deadlocked state Senate failed to renew the mayors control over public schools before a Tuesday deadline.
	MA: 30 failing schools may face takeover The Patrick administration, in a sharp deviation from previous state policy, will seek legislative approval to take over about 30 of the states worst schools and dramatically weaken their teacher contracts, as part of the governors effort to overhaul public education.
	RI: 2 more Web retailers cancel R.I. ties More online retailers have joined Amazon.coms boycott of Rhode Island as the companies try to stamp out efforts to tax Internet sales.
	MT: Abortion foes seek to amend state constitution The Montana Pro Life Coalition on Wednesday submitted three proposed constitutional initiatives for the 2010 ballot defining embryos and fetuses as persons with rights, measures that if passed and upheld in courts would effectively ban abortion in Montana.
	AL: 123,046 in Alabama still waiting for tax refunds The longest U.S. recession since World War II has caused Alabamas tax collections to plummet so badly that more than 120,000 taxpayers are having to wait for their state income tax refunds.


	Furloughs cut into state services With states facing a $121 billion shortfall in the next fiscal year, a growing number of them have turned to squeezing their workforce for savings, and effects both great and small will be felt.
	Tracking the recession: Budget deadline looms Unlike the federal government, states have to balance their budgets. But several states still have not completed spending plans for the fiscal year that begins July 1.
	Weekly wrap: Feds release long-awaited stimulus job guidelines The Obama administration tells state officials to take "a simple headcount" of jobs saved or created by the stimulus program. Meanwhile, the demand for some special jobs is soaring. Officials also warn states not to shortchange education when balancing budgets.
	Ga. hotline aims to cut mental health costs Even as the recession chips away at mental health services across the country, Georgia’s around-the-clock psychiatric hotline is finding a way to weather the storm — and other states are watching closely.
	Tracking the recession: States target jobs Though unemployment is rising in nearly every state, aggressive efforts to create jobs are paying off — modestly — in many states.
	Reports: State income levels plunge States racing to cobble together new budgets for their July 1 deadline could find themselves sinking back into red ink sooner than they think, as Americans’ income and the taxes they pay on it shrink, new data show.
	New courts tailored to war veterans Twenty years after local officials in Miami opened the nations first drug court — a specialized "treatment court" aimed at rehabilitating low-level drug offenders instead of locking them up — state lawmakers in Illinois and Nevada are applying the same idea to a different population: war veterans who have had run-ins with the law.
	Gay marriage legal in six states (Updated 4:40 p.m. EDT, June 4, 2009) With the exception of Rhode Island, same-sex marriage is now legal throughout New England, and neighboring New York could be next. On June 3, New Hampshire became the sixth state, including Iowa, to legalize gay nuptials. But despite these gains by the gay rights movement, the United States is still a nation divided over whether to redefine marriage. In this comprehensive backgrounder, Stateline.org maps the state of play in all 50 states, including charts, a historic timeline, and coverage of landmark court decisions, voter referendums, state legislation and federal and international laws.

DAILY STATE NEWS

CA: State IOUs loom as foes' battle lines harden
After trying for weeks to fix a state budget gone out of control, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state lawmakers stood frozen in conflict Wednesday with the state at the brink of a meltdown.
Los Angeles Times
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DE: Budget is done, but sniping isn't
A bleary-eyed Gov. Jack Markell signed a package of tax increases, spending reductions and an employee furlough plan into law just before sunrise Wednesday, but not before blasting Republicans for what he called their lack of "bipartisan cooperation" in helping resolve the historic revenue shortfall.
The News Journal (New Castle-Wilmington)
Read More

SC: 39 trips for Sanford with no security in '09
Gov. Mark Sanford left the Governor's Mansion without a security escort 38 times in 2008. In the first six months of this year, he left the mansion without security 39 times.
The State (Columbia)
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Abortion

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Legislative Wrap-up 2009

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Legislative Wrap-up 2008

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Legislative Wrap-up 2007

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Stem cells

Read the latest news, analysis and research on the economic crisis in the states in Stateline.org's new Recession and Recovery special section.

The Stimulus and the
States
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